State Forces Company To Pull Egg Ads

Company's Claims About Cholesterol Effect Are Misleading, Officials

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State Forces Company To Pull Ads For Eggs

A national company marketing a new brand of eggs for people worried about cholesterol is making misleading health claims, say state officials, who have forced the company to pull its advertising in Connecticut.

Consumer officials said at least a dozen other states also are planning action against Eggland's Best Inc. of King of Prussia, Pa., whose eggs are being sold in supermarkets in Connecticut and 29 other states.

The company is promoting eggs laid by chickens fed a special, low-fat diet of canola oil, extra vitamin E and minerals. Its electronic and print advertising tells consumers they can "eat real eggs again" and that it has proof that their eggs won't increase cholesterol in the blood of people who eat them.

But health and and consumer officials, including the American Heart Association, say that Eggland's Best eggs and standard eggs are essentially similar, with the same levels of cholesterol. The association says its recommendation, that no one eat more than four egg yolks a week, is the same for both.

On Nov. 17, state Consumer Protection Commissioner Gloria Schaffer told Eggland's representatives that she would not permit the company to run its advertising, which she said may encourage people to eat an unhealthful number of eggs. High blood cholesterol levels have been associated with a variety of health problems, including heart disease.

"I feel very strongly that the public's health should not be endangered by misleading advertising," Schaffer said.

Connecticut so far has been the only state that has successfully pressured the company not to run its advertising. The state learned of the campaign from the company, which had asked consumer officials in several states to look at its product and the advertising.

Schaffer also criticized the picture on the company's egg

carton, which depicts two eggs cooked sunny side up. State health officials recommend that eggs be fully cooked to kill salmonella, bacteria that cause fever and internal disorders in humans.

The company's president, Robert J. Fuhrman, said the company "has every reason" to believe that "our eggs would not cause an increase in cholesterol."

"Contrary to what some people have said, we promise no health benefits whatsoever," he said. "We just say you can eat 12 of these eggs [a week], and it won't increase your cholesterol."

He said the company's packaging was approved by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture under consultation with the Food and Drug Administration.

The eggs, which were first marketed in July, are being produced by 27 farms around the country, including Southern New England Eggs Inc. in Franklin. The company's attorney, Jay F. Malcynski of New Britain, said the eggs are available in many of the state's major supermarkets. Schaffer said she saw the product at the Stop & Shop supermarket in Waterford, where they were priced at about a $1 more than standard eggs.

In promoting the product, the company points to a study published in last month's Journal of Nutrition in which people who ate 12 of the Eggland's Best eggs each week showed no difference in their blood cholesterol levels than those who ate no eggs. The 98 participants in the study all were on low fat diets. The study, conducted by the Medical College of Pennsylvania, was financed by Eggland's Best and written with the help of a physician who also is a vice president of the company.

Fuhrman said a second study confirming the findings currently is under review by another journal. He said the company believes that the eggs' higher levels of vitamin E and iodine are responsible for their effect on cholesterol in the human body.

Some consumer and health officials, including Kenneth Hall, professor of nutritional science at the University of Connecticut, say it is likely the same results could have been achieved if the test subjects had been fed ordinary eggs, which have the same fat and cholesterol content as the ones produced by chickens fed with the Eggland's Best diet.

They say the company cannot assume that the results apply to average Americans because the tests concentrated on subjects whose fat consumption was far below that of average Americans.

"In my opinion and in the opinion of other professionals that I have recently contacted, Eggland's Best eggs are not substantially different than eggs already being sold, and the advertisement approaches a scam," Hall wrote in a Nov. 20 letter to Schaffer.

In September, the company withdrew television advertising in Iowa after that state expressed concern that the campaign might "leave a lasting, inaccurate message in the minds of consumers," according to Ray Johnson, an Iowa assistant attorney general.

In a letter to the company, Johnson said that, contrary to what the company had told him, someone at the Federal Trade Commission had expressed concerns about the company's advertising campaign.

On Wednesday, Johnson said he was concerned that the company continues to advertise on radio and in print. He confirmed that Iowa, along with Connecticut and other states, are planning some type of action in the next couple of days through the National Association of Attorneys General. He would not be specific.

"Iowa and many, many other states are serious about making

changes in this company's advertising," he said.

Schaffer said her legal division participated in a conference call with at least 13 other states planning action.